Irish, Polish Counting On Green-card Lottery

Irish, Polish Counting On Green-card Lottery

February 22, 1993|By MEREDITH CARLSON; Courant Staff Writer

Jim Larkin, a West Hartford firefighter and Irish activist, tells the story of a fellow from Dublin now living in Hartford who has been trying to win a green card through the immigration lottery. The unlucky lad has lost out twice in two years.

But it gets worse: Several of his neighbors who stayed in Ireland have won.

"That's the frustrating part," Larkin said, "when four people on your street back in Dublin get it."

This year, as the third and final immigration lottery nears, Larkin's illegal friends are beyond mere hoping.

"They're praying," said Larkin, who as a leader in the local Irish Reform Movement has lobbied extensively for the lottery program. "They're kind of on pins and needles."

The green card is a visa that entitles one to live and work in the United States. It does not entitle one to U.S. citizenship.

There have been many more winners than losers in the first two years of the State Department's lottery, enacted as part of the 1990 Immigration Reform Act. Larkin estimates that in the Hartford region alone at least 75 percent of the undocumented Irish nationals have won.

But "it's that 25 percent I'm concerned about," Larkin said. "After 25 years of nothing, you can't give us three years of a little bit and slam the door."

In the lottery, 40,000 green cards are issued each year.

Unlike any other immigration program in recent history, the State Department has offered a special guarantee to the Irish. For the past two years, at least 16,000 visas have been reserved each year for Irish nationals -- the reward for years of lobbying by the Irish Reform Movement, which fought to correct decades of discrimination.

This is the last year for that special privilege. Next year, when a new immigration program begins, the Irish will have to take their chances for the 55,000 visas -- along with millions of other immigrants.

They will be left with little else but Irish luck. But at least they'll have something, Larkin said.

The details of how the new visas will be distributed are being worked out, said Gary Sheaffer, spokesman for the State Department's Bureau of Consular Affairs. But the Irish may not qualify.

The new program will offer visas to immigrants from countries that have received fewer than an average of 10,000 visas annually. The list of countries changes each year depending on the number of visas issued, Sheaffer said.

That leaves immigrants from countries in Africa and Central America with a greater chance.

But the Irish aren't the only group counting on this year's lottery. Dozens of Polish families living illegally in New Britain, Waterbury and Middletown have flooded the State Department with applications in the past two years.

Although the Polish didn't receive any special guarantee, Polish natives have won more green cards than the Irish because more have applied. Last year, 19,856 Polish immigrants won.

Despite the guarantee of 16,000 cards for the Irish, in the end fewer won the cards because some were disqualified when they lost their jobs in the recession.

The State Department will be choosing 1,789 more Irish winners this year to make up for the shortfall, Sheaffer said.

The Polish also may be disqualified from the new program because more than 10,000 immigrants have won green cards each year in the past two years, Sheaffer said. The Polish are not as organized as the Irish in lobbying Congress for immigration programs. Few Polish immigrants in New Britain even knew about the new program beginning next year.

Andrzej Gromadowski, a New Britain travel agent, is one of the lucky ones. He won an immigration lottery in 1987 and since then, from his Polonia Travel Agency, he has helped nine others win the recent lottery. Gromadowski says he knows many Polish families in New Britain, Bristol and Meriden who are staking their dreams on this year's lottery.

"This is their last chance," Gromadowski said. "Some will end up happy. Some will be very disappointed.

"Not everyone can win. You can't move Poland to the U.S."

Sunday, Gromadowski planned to tell listeners on his weekly radio show about the provisions for the final lottery.

The program has changed each year. After hordes of immigrants stormed a post office in Arlington, Va., the first year, officials limited applications the next year to one per immigrant. This year, the program starts much earlier. From March 2 to March 31, immigrants can mail applications. The one-month period gives applicants in the United States and abroad the same chance.

State Department officials say they moved up the deadline to give applicants and officials more time. By June, immigrants should know whether they have won.

The State Department notifies only the winners. But even they still must pass immigration interviews in their native countries before getting a green card. The winners have to rush to clear all the hurdles because the State Department, calculating that many will not qualify for a green card, picks 10,000 extra winners for the 40,000 cards.